第九章 请求赦免(一七一七年十二月~一七一八年八月)(第10/13页)
范恩很快就整合了岛上的势力,据说他拔出剑,在岸上发飙,威胁要“烧掉镇上的主要房屋,杀鸡儆猴”。据有丰富拿骚资料的《海盗通史》作者说,范恩是在对抗霍尼戈及其他接受赦免的海盗,“立榜样给许多人看”,“极度粗鲁地对待所有不像他那么坏的人”。“他如同总督一样统治此处二十日,停下所有进港船只,不让任何船只离开……他发誓只要待在港口一天,除了自己以外,不会忍受任何其他总督。”
范恩这一派威胁完对手后,忙着把货物从“圣马丁”号移到不同单桅帆船上,并把多出来的大炮搬到法国大船上。范恩的帮派准备航向巴西海岸,希望在那里和拉布其、康登以及其他死硬派海盗结合势力,或许可以在南美洲建立另一个海盗共和国,一个汉诺威国王鞭长莫及的地方,海盗可以在那里重整势力。
一七一八年七月二十四日晚上,离范恩的人出发仅三四天,人们发出大喊:皇家海军护卫舰的船帆出现在猪岛后方。
伍兹·罗杰斯来了。[102]
[1] George I,“A Proclamation for Suppressing of Pirates,” Hampton Court:5 September 1717 in London Gazette,17 September 1717,p. 1.
[2] 部分历史学家提出,赦免消息的抵达时间早于贝勒米帮海盗被处决的十一月十五日,但这个说法缺乏证据。以下文件显示,消息在十二月一日到九日间抵达波士顿,十二月十九日当天或之前抵达百慕大,十二月二十五日抵达纽约的“凤凰”号,以及次年一月三日抵达弗吉尼亚的“珍珠”号。消息很慢才传遍大西洋,部分原因是国王发布命令之后、罗杰斯一七一八年七月抵达巴哈马之前,没有皇家海军军舰出航。来源:ADM 1/1472 f11:Ellis Brand to the Admiralty,Pearl at Vir- ginia:10 March 1718;ADM 1/2282 f13:Vincent Pearse to the Admiralty,Phoenix at New York:4 February 1718;“A Proclamation for Supressing of Pirates,” Boston News-Letter,9 De- cember 1717,p. 1;Benjamin Bennett to the Council of Trade and Plantations,Bermuda:3 February 1718 in CSPCS 1717-1718,No. 345,p. 170。
[3] TEP:The Trials of Eight Persons Indited for Piracy,Boston:John Edwards,1718.
[4] 波士顿监狱在一六九九年也关过基德船长,现址是法庭街二十六号(26 Court Street),从市镇屋(一七一三年),也就是现今的老州议会大厦往上坡走,只有一小段路。纳撒尼尔·霍桑(Nathaniel Hawthorne)的小说《红字》(The Scarlet Letter),对这栋监狱有一些幻想式的描述。
[5] 法庭占据新砖造的市镇屋的西侧或上坡端,窗子开向监狱。见Sinclair and Catherine F. Hitchings,Theatre of Liberty:Boston’s Old State House,Boston:Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Company,1975,pp. 1-6;“Old Boston Prison,” Commemorative Plaque,26 Court Street,Boston,MA。
[6] Cotton Mather,“The Diary of Cotton Mather 1681-1724” in Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society,Series 7,Vol. 7,Boston:Massachusetts Historical Society,1911,pp. 448,483,490;Cotton Mather,Instructions to the Living from the Condition of the Dead:A Brief Relation of Remarkables in the Shipwreck of above One Hundred Pirates,Boston:John Allen,1717,pp. 17-18,37-38.
[7] 处决过后一个星期,马瑟在日记里写道:“针对最近被处决的海盗,如果我能提供给书商一些对他们处境的描写,不知是否有益?”后来,他的《死者境遇,生者之诫》(Instructions to the Living,from the Condition of the Dead)在波士顿出版。
[8] Bennett to the Council of Trade,3 February 1718;“Bermuda Dispatch,February 16,” London Gazette,12 April 1718,p. 1.
[9] “Extract of a Letter from South Carolina,” 2 February 1718 in London Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer,3 May 1718,p. 1,033.
[10] George Cammocke to Queen Mary of Modina,St. Germaine,France:28 March 1718 in Stuart Papers 29/49.
[11] Michael Craton,A History of the Bahamas,London:Collins,1962,p. 100.
[12] Extract of a Letter from South Carolina,2 February 1718;“Jamaica Dispatch,March 28,” The [London] Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer,7 June 1718,p. 1;Lord Carteret to Governor Burnet,Whitehall,London:22 August 1722,CSPCS 1722-1723,item 267,p. 128;ADM 1/2282 f13:Vincent Pearse to the Admiralty,Phoenix at New York:3 June 1718;HCA 1/54:Deposition of Benjamin Sims,London:28 September 1721.
[13] GHP:Charles Johnson,A General History of the Pyrates,ed. Manuel Schonhorn,Columbia,SC:University of South Carolina Press,1972,p. 41.
[14] Clinton V. Black,Pirates of the West Indies,Cambridge,UK:Cambridge University Press,1989,p. 120;Black incorrectly states that Winter,Brown,and Blackbeard accepted the pardon at Nassau;Peter Earle,The Pirate Wars,New York:St.Martin’s Press,p. 162.
[15] ADM 1/2282 f13:Vincent Pearse to the Admiralty,Phoenix at New Providence,Bahamas:4 March 1718;Pearse to the Admiralty,3 June 1718;GHP:Charles Johnson,A General History of the Pyrates,ed. Manuel Schonhorn,Columbia,SC:University of South Carolina Press,1972,pp. 581-582.
[16] John Hardy,A Chronological List of the Captains of His Majesty’s Royal Navy,London:T. Cadell,1794,p. 34.
[17] News item,Boston News-Letter,6 January 1718,p. 2. 这场冬天的暴风雨,也延迟了邮差十二月九日那星期的每周投递。
[18] ADM 1/2282 f13:Pearse to the Admiralty,Phoenix at New York:4 February 1718. 皮尔斯表示他在“上个月二十五日”收到公告,但我假设他指的是十二月,因为十二月九日印在《波士顿新闻通讯》的公告,不太可能要花近两个月时间才抵达纽约。
[19] ADM 51/690:Admiralty Records,Captain’s Logs,Phoenix,8 Oct 1715 to 6 Oct 1721,National Archives,Kew,UK.:entries of December 1717-February 1718. 皮尔斯在日志提到他“部分整装后”离开纽约。
[20] David Lyon,The Sailing Navy List,London:Conway,1993,pp. 37-38;ADM33/298:Navy Board Pay Office,Ship’s Pay Books,National Archives,Kew,UK:HMS Phoenix Pay Book,1716-1718.
[21] Pearse to the Admiralty,Phoenix at New York:4 February 1718;ADM 51/690:Admiralty Records,Captain’s Logs,Phoenix,8 Oct 1715 to 6 Oct 1721,National Archives,Kew,UK.:entry of February 6,1718.
[22] ADM 51/690:Admiralty Records,Captain’s Logs,Phoenix,8 Oct 1715 to 6 Oct 1721,National Archives,Kew,UK.:entries of 22-24 February 1718;Pearse to the Admiralty,3 June 1718.